I Regressed and Became Too Good at Brewing - Chapter 52

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 52. Living On (4)
“These are truly excellent Pellets!”
Jin-woo burst into admiration the moment he laid eyes on them.
He’d never brewed beer himself, but he had studied the process.
In his past life, when craft beer was all the rage, he’d once considered it as a new direction for Songhada.
There had been a skilled brewer willing to teach him the craft, but the plan fell through.
Songhada had been too financially strapped back then.
Yet that knowledge he’d gained proved invaluable now.
He could appreciate every word Jin-woo spoke.
“It truly is remarkable.”
Quality Pellets showed their worth first in color.
Those made from fresh hops bore a subtle luster—an olive-green hue.
And when he held them, they maintained their cylindrical shape perfectly.
Most tellingly of all—
“Wow. This aroma is really…….”
“Right? Not to be trifled with, is it?”
Se-jun’s excitement had prepared him somewhat, but this was truly an exceptional hop.
If these Korean Indigenous Hops couldn’t match imported varieties in aroma, it would be wise to abandon them.
But his doubts evaporated the moment the scent enveloped him, captivating him entirely.
“Deep pine notes… herbaceous undertones… and…….”
“I’m catching a sharp pepper aroma as well?”
“Truly an exceptional fragrance…….”
It was like gazing upon a quiet garden.
More precisely, a traditional Korean garden where water and earth, grass and wood wove together in perfect harmony.
And from the pavilion nestled within it, the scent of pine drifted with leisurely grace and charm.
There—figures swaying and clapping in merriment, laughing without restraint.
That was the vision he beheld the moment he opened the Pellet bag.
“This alone… honestly, it seems like you could make something wonderful with just this?”
Though Jin-woo lacked abilities, he was a far more experienced brewer than Se-jun—a true professional.
And his eyes were gleaming with possibility as he studied these Pellets.
True, one could craft a fine beer using only these Pellets, as Jin-woo suggested.
But something told him otherwise.

“I think blending it with something else would be best.”
His instinct aligned with Hwang-gu’s.
This hop was built for Aroma—for creating fragrance.
Using it alone would make it difficult to capture beer’s characteristic dry, bitter appeal.
“Using Magnum or Warrior for the bitterness would work well.”
These hops were synonymous with clean, assertive bitterness.
Employing these two varieties—which delivered sharp, crisp bitterness even in small quantities—would allow this Korean Indigenous Hops’ aromatic character to truly shine.
“Shall we try it right now then?”
“Excellent! Please, come along!”
“Pardon the intrusion.”

With fine ingredients assembled, it was time to begin brewing in earnest.
The first step was adjusting the water composition.
He heated water into which a small amount of Calcium Chloride had been dissolved.
This mineral adjustment would form the foundation of the finished beer’s smooth, refined character.
“What approach shall we take with the Mash?”
“Didn’t you have the recipe written down earlier?”
“Ah. Yes, here it is.”
Jin-woo’s Mash—his grain recipe—was sound.
Built on a base of Pilsner Malt to provide a clean canvas, complemented by Vienna Malt for golden color and rich flavor, with Wheat Malt to form a stable head—this blend had always yielded reliable results.
But he was thinking of adding one more thing.
“What if we incorporated Flaked Oats?”
“Oats meaning… barley?”
“No, oats.”
The recipe had been perfect, but seeing those Pellets again, he’d reconsidered.
With an aroma like that, wouldn’t any brewer want the beer to linger longer on the palate?
To achieve this, he’d decided to use oats.
By inducing a creamy texture without sweetness, we’ll be able to hold onto more of the aroma.
“That sounds good, doesn’t it? Then we should adjust the ratios…….”
“Pilsner Malt at eighty-two percent, Vienna Malt at ten, Flaked Oats at five, and Wheat Malt at three should do it.”
“What? How did you even…….”
Jin-woo’s eyes went wide with surprise.
Ah, that was my mistake.
At Songhada, since I’m the owner, I could make such pronouncements without issue.
Besides, it happened often enough that everyone had just come to accept it as normal.
But this is Jin-woo’s brewery.
And in ordinary circumstances, a Mash recipe isn’t determined by casual declaration—it’s arrived at through countless trials and errors.
Yet what could I do?
When I could see it so clearly?
The round, plump aromas of the Pilsner Malt at first glance, and the yellow-bright scent of Vienna Malt radiating nuttiness through and through.
The clumsy Wheat Malt and the Flaked Oats crumbling soft as cream.
While I was still wrestling with how to answer, Se-jun spoke first.
“Boss, why don’t you give it a try?”
“I was planning to anyway… but isn’t it strange?”
“I found it strange at first too, but now I just accept it. More than anything, good beer always comes out when he speaks like that and brews it. I thought maybe he’d received a divine gift or something.”
“Hmm…….”
Hearing Se-jun’s words, Jin-woo’s eyes lit up.
The odd talk of divine gifts notwithstanding, at least it had passed smoothly enough. I’d count that as a win.
Jin-woo blended the malts according to the ratios I’d given and ground them.
“Next we’ll run a Step Mashing in the Mash Tun over here!”
The process of steeping ground grain in warm water to convert the starches to sugar.
I offered guidance here too.
We’d split the temperature control of the large Mash Tun into two stages to create a surprising complexity in texture.
“So we’re adjusting the temperature in two separate steps?”
“It’s difficult work… do you think you can manage it?”
“Oh, of course. I’ve tried it before myself.”
Jin-woo manipulated the machine deftly, adjusting both temperature and time.
First came sixty-three degrees, the rest period for Beta-Amylase.
This step released simple sugars that the yeast could consume all the way through, drying out the Finish completely and pulling it clean and crisp.
Next was the Alpha-Amylase rest.
We raised the temperature to sixty-nine degrees, allowing complex sugars like Dextrin to form gently, rounding out the palate and building the foundation of the beer’s body.
After roughly an hour of this process, once only clear, sweet Wort had gathered in the boil pot, the next stage began.
“Would it be all right if I took over from here?”
“Yes, please. Actually, this is where the flavor really begins, so I was hoping you would.”
And from here on, we were switching roles.
Before this, we’d been building the beer’s texture and base using malt; now we had to color in that foundation with hops.
I opened my eyes wider deliberately, ready to make full use of the ability I’d received from Song-ha.
I gazed at the aromas dancing above the clear Wort.
Just as I’d anticipated, the malt aromas bounced and played together in perfect harmony.
“Let’s boil it.”
The third stage was Boiling.
We’d add hops while bringing it to a rolling boil, just as the name suggested.
“First, we add it right at the start…….”
The moment the Wort began to bubble and boil, I immediately added the Magnum Hops.
Even if Magnum was used purely for bitterness without character, it wasn’t entirely devoid of aroma.
“Hmm…….”
“What is it?”
“Nothing really.”
Until now I’d been using this ability to enhance and preserve aroma; now I was using it to strip it away. The feeling was peculiar.
Still, the character of the Magnum aroma didn’t seem unpleasant.
Rather than twisting grotesquely, it was as though after spending a long time deep in a sauna, it simply dispersed like smoke.
Now only the sharp, clean bitterness unique to Magnum Hops would remain.
“So when do we add these Pellets?”
“At the very end. We have to add them right at the very end.”
I answered Se-jun’s question that way.
The beauty of Korean Indigenous Hops is its warm aroma, like holding pine in your hands.
If we added them now, that aroma would vanish just like the Magnum Hops had before.
How long had it been like this?
“Now!”
Five minutes before the end of the Boiling, I added the Korean Indigenous Hops.
By applying heat for just this short while, the entire Wort would absorb that distinctive peppery bite and earthy undertone.

Hwang-gu was right.
I couldn’t claim to have drawn out the full character of the Korean Indigenous Hops in just this time.
But that was fine.
After I’d killed the heat and the Wort temperature dropped to around eighty degrees, I poured in the Korean Indigenous Hops Pellets.
A rushing cascade of hops aroma tumbling down.
Watching them dance and weave with the malt’s own scent as if they owned the whole world, I stirred with a broad paddle.
“But why add them after turning off the heat?”
“At this temperature, the aroma doesn’t evaporate away.”
It was knowledge earned by direct observation.
The pine scent locked within the Korean Indigenous Hops didn’t seem to favor the heat—during the Boiling it had kept twisting itself, desperate to stay as far from the kettle as possible.
It must be a volatile compound.
“I’ll handle the next part!”
After that came the cooling stage, and then we moved to the Fermentation vessel.
There was nothing I needed to instruct Jin-woo on.
Using the ability I’d gained from the Oak Barrel, I’d learned the optimal conditions for aging and Fermentation—and Jin-woo was executing them perfectly, having discovered the same methods through his own experience.
Not only lowering the temperature to what the yeast preferred, but pouring it vigorously with sufficient Splashing to supply all the oxygen the yeast needed for its initial reproduction.
Only after sprinkling the yeast evenly, inserting the Airlock, and sealing it did the work finally come to an end.
“Now comes the waiting phase.”
“We’ll still need to check on it periodically.”
“The Dry Hopping, you mean? Of course.”
Fourteen days of waiting.
The Fermentation proceeded in a dark room at a constant eighteen to twenty degrees Celsius, shielded from light.
By the eighth day, when the late stage of Fermentation arrived.
When the bubbling in the Airlock noticeably slowed, I dumped in all the Korean Indigenous Hops at once.
Keeping oxygen contact to a minimum, I’d let it steep cold for three days…….
“It’s done!”
The new beer from The Hop, using Korean Indigenous Hops, was complete.
Work that had taken well over two weeks.
Handling Songhada’s business alongside this for two weeks had been nothing short of grueling, yet it remained oddly satisfying.
This was my first time working with beer in earnest, after all.
“Phew… I’m nervous…….”
“It’s all right. Even if it didn’t turn out well, we can try again. That’s what beer is about, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.”
Yet even as he spoke, Eun-chae’s own face had gone pale with tension.
I understood the couple’s anxiety.
Closure and bankruptcy loomed just around the corner.
And this beer was the last hope they could grasp in that crisis.
But there was no reason to worry.
“It turned out well.”
The reason for my certainty was clear.

Looking at the size of Hwang-gu as he came rushing over, crying out thus.
The spirit, who’d been no bigger than the palm of my hand, had already returned to its original size.
Considering the nature of a spirit that draws power from fine spirits, how could I not be excited about what flavor this beer would produce?
But that wasn’t all.
“The aroma is truly remarkable…….”
Even just pouring a glass and holding it revealed the harmony of scents.
The wonder I’d first felt from the Pellets had multiplied tenfold.
The initial garden had been lovely, but now it was like stepping into Mulung Dowon itself—a realm of sublime beauty.
Within it, aromas dressed as immortals played Go, savoring the forest’s spirit.
This was a beer that couldn’t possibly fail.
“Shall we taste it then?”
“Let’s do it!”
Clink!
Four glasses meeting with bright clarity.
Jin-woo and Eun-chae took the first sip, and Se-jun followed suit, raising his glass to drink.
“How is it?”
He asked, but no answer came back.
They were all too busy taking eager gulps of the beer.
A good sign.
Still, he wouldn’t get their impressions right away.
There was nothing for it but to taste it himself.
So when he brought the glass to his lips and took his first sip.
“Mmm!”
A new world unfurled.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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